Braille
by JamedVelocity
Summary: Quiet, unexpected—like the baby inside a womb perhaps, its gender is unexpected and it's quiet. And that's exactly what she is, born blind and mute, Del loathed this, it was a curse. But after a freak incident with a certain white being in front of a gate, she finds herself in the world of her favorite show armed with her five senses and one pillow. [OCxCanon]
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Braille

**Rated:** T

**Genre:** Romance & Adventure

**Summary:**

Quiet, unexpected—like the baby inside a womb perhaps, its gender is unexpected and it's quiet. And that's exactly what she is, born blind and mute, Del loathed this, it was a curse. But after a freak incident with a certain white being in front of a gate, she finds herself in the world of her favorite show armed with only five senses and one pillow.

**Warning:** Filled with a lot of shitty puns and one horrid brat.

**Disclaimer:** As mush as I'd love to, I can't for I have too many bad ideas for this anime.

**A/N:** Hi there! I'm new to this part of fanfiction, I've decided to write for FMA because I've been reading a few stories here and thought, 'Why not?' So I put my phone down and got on my laptop. anyways; please enjoy the story! c:

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Dandelion Wine

"_There's only you and me in this infinitely amount of loathsome crap."_

—Rain, truly it was. Streaks of white and blue crayon falling from grey puffs in the sky, at least that's what her mother had told her. It felt cold on her fingertips as she sat out in the garden staring at the sky, she supposed. People described it as blue and vast and white and never ending, but she didn't know if that was the truth, all she could see was nothing, she didn't even know how the color looked like, Delamine Wright had never seen colors before, only this one color she couldn't even describe. It was cold though, like how her soaked soft skin was as she was guided back inside the house by one of the maids frantically.

Del was silent as they bathed her pale skin and earthly brown hair. She was brushed, fed, pampered, and most of all, taught.

Braille—yes, she was taught Braille. The little bumps were soothing against her fingers as she read with her body, the movement drowned out what her instructor was explaining and she smiled to herself. Reciting the story in her head, she was loud and clear—her voice powerful as she spoke, and this is what she said.

—_Rose, a woody perennial of the genus Rosa within the family Rosaceae._

_They have velvety petals and sharp thorns which are situated at the stem of this _

_beautiful flower. Its name comes from French, itself from the Latin Rosa, _

_Which was perhaps borrowed from Oscan—_

There was still so very much to read, but her instructor had decided to call it a day, leaving Del alone in her room as she absorbed the information from the raggedy leather woven book.

Her room was of course something she couldn't see, but I'll do you a small favor and explain, it was a regular sized room, beige walls and light brown wooden planks for the floor, a white rug sat at the side of her white bed and a window to the right of it. In the corners of her room were shelves, all filled with different things. At the first corner which was closest to the window were books ranging from horror to romance, all in braille, the shelf was close to the bed so it was practical. At the second corner were a bunch of perfumes and pictures, the third was full of recordings of episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, a few music CDs and a small CD player and at the fourth corner was where sat her sketchbooks were. God knew why her mother bought her these, maybe because of her false hope of her daughter ever being granted eyesight to continue her life-long passion, drawing that is. Near that corner was a glass desk with a small lamp and papers, all filled with dots.

She rubbed her hands together and made her way to the bed. Letting her hands wander over it before finally settling over a soft substance, named her safety-pillow, she walked over to her desk and held it close to her, then Del began tracing the dots on her papers, it was another safety object that she held close to her heart, she let out a breath of relief as she traced her fingers over the paper. Breath, the only sound she's ever been able to make, and she was grateful for it, how horrible would it be if she couldn't hear her breath?

Del's fingers stopped dead. Unfamiliarity, uncertainty, doubt, worry, anger and shock coursed through her as she found a strange pattern on the parchment. Who dared touch her papers? She frowned and gritted her teeth, the brunette let her pillow rest on her lap and began feeling the particular piece of paper, she traced it and tapped it with her two palms and felt surges of energy. Papers fell on the floor and she began stomping her feet in rage.

'Clap your hands and try patting it again, a bit more forcefully this time.' A voice sneered in her head, she wrinkled her nose and did as she was told.

And what a big mistake it was.

Instantly, a sizzling pain sprouted wings and dug beneath her skin, literally; and she could see her skin slowly becoming paper and floating off into oblivion, she saw strange green lightning sizzle and pop and dance on her arms. But that wasn't what frightened her, for what did frighten her was millions of colors and shapes, she widened her great dark beluga eyes as she saw her table, her floors, her walls and corner. And all of a sudden, after sixteen years of never ever being able to make a sound, she cried out and all was dark once more.

* * *

White, Del saw white. Nothing but white, she looked down and saw her feet, the brunette wiggled her bare toes and saw her legs, long and covered with black leggings completed with a white skirt which reached a bit above her knee. She looked at her arms and saw white sleeves, the girl let her gaze travel downwards and saw that it was a thin jacket which layered a plain black shirt.

She touched her eyelids and wondered quietly just how on Earth, she was able to see. How did she even know which and what colors were called and how and what shapes were like?

"That's because you've just got a bouquet full of information crammed into your head now little lady."

Del quickly spun her head to where the source of the voice was and widened her eyes at what she saw, an entity completely white.

"Who… a-are you?" She gasped and held her lips by her hands, she could speak! How?!

"Like I said dearie," The white entity drawled cynically, "It's because you've got a whole lot of information in that little box of yours."

The brunette could only lift an eyebrow as she spoke slow and careful, repeating the same question again, "Who are you?"

The being grinned and cried out, "Me? Why, I am God of course!" It pointed a mocking finger at her and continued his stupid play of words which were personally just a bunch of bullcrap to Del's ears, "—and you are my creation, a puppet to play with."

Del frowned and knitted her thick eyebrows together, she stared at the confusing creature beneath her thick curly lashes and spoke with a low tone, "You're no God, and I am not a puppet for the likes of you."

Wagging a finger in front of the brunette's face, he scoffed playfully(although not in good-nature), "Tut, tut, tut little lady; for a person who reads a lot, you sure are stupid aren't you?" Her frown deepened as it continued, the voice a mixture of terrible female and basic male, "In here—I am God, for there is nobody else but me and you, such as it should be but unfortunately is not."

Her body was completely hostile towards him, her eyes were as narrow as the gap between the floor and the door as she hissed at him—her—it, yeah, it.

"Can you stand?" asked it.

"What?" replied she.

It repeated, "Can you stand?"

Her previous hostile exterior forgotten, Del looked down at her toes and wiggled them before sighing, "I don't know."

"Then stand up you stupid girl."

She shot him a daringly stupid glare but only received a blank face as a reply, no pun intended, "Fine."

She stood slow and hesitating, cursing under her breath and yet marveling at the vast amount of words she'd learnt so far. Del wobbled and teetered but managed to hold her ground, she took a step forward and fell; to which was earned a hearty mocking laugh from the white entity.

Del huffed and stood up again, this time managing to do one step and not fall over. Another step, and another, and yet another. It felt like walking on thin ice, it even looked like it, her feet felt frostbitten and her bones were chilled as she walked, her coal eyes darting to and fro from her feet to the white entity, it's head was turned towards her and she could feel its nonexistent eyes drilling into her skull.

"You haven't answered my question yet, who are you?" Del spoke as her knees began to buckle, sending her to the ground.

"God." It replied.

She scoffed and stood, beginning her walking lesson all over again, "Hurry up and answer."

It unexpectedly sighed, "Apparently the word God isn't a good word for people of your intellect—how about this, my name is Truth."

Not knowing whether to be insulted or flattered, Del simply nodded and continued walking.

"Try running now."

And she did, Del began sprinting around the white blotch known as land. She felt an odd chilling wind in her face and welcomed it, she's always been accustomed to the cold.

"Good, as a prize; have this piece of trash."

Something fluffy and oddly comforting was thrown to the brunette, to which she caught and began to cradle the moment it was revealed to be her beloved pillow. She squealed and squeezed it close to her chest.

Truth snapped its fingers, drawing her attention to him to which she frowned and spat out, "What?"

It simply grinned, "Feisty. Anyways, school time is over, time to go home."

Del visibly paled, "Home?" She swallowed a lump in her throat and stared at Truth with fearful eyes, "Will I lose my eyesight? My voice?"

"Of course you will, you fool!" It cried out, laughing at my face; spitting at it and slapping my flesh, "And that is exactly why I'm about to send you to a new world!"

Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed over her causing the poor brunette to look back and pale, her thin lips went dry, her throat held no voice and the hairs on her neck stood tall and fearful.

The door creaked and groaned open, small black arms starting to fit through the gap and reach for her. Del screamed and backed away, her feet only able to take her so far before she fell and crawled backwards. A black hand coiled itself around her ankle and the female promptly shrieked, using her fingers to pry it off of her frantically. Another one coiled itself around her wrist as she flailed, and another on her other wrist, and another on her other ankle.

Truth laughed as she screamed, the hands dragged her into the gate where oblivion was seen.

The door opened wider, like the mouth of a tiger with its fangs barred and its eyes ablaze with murder, she was dragged in like prey and snapped tight within, the sound of her screams shut off as she was dragged into darkness all over again with the sound of muffled laughs behind a gate she could no longer reach as she fell.

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**A/N:** So, how was it? I hope you guys like it and I hope it isn't too bad, I sort of liked the concept of sending a blind and mute girl into the FMA world. Please review! :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Call me your lover and then maybe I'll own FMA.

**A/N:** Oh gosh, this many reviews already? I didn't know that this story would perk your interests that fast! Haha, but I really am happy that you guys took some time out of your lives to read this and review.

I wrote this chapter to Gone, Gone, Gone by Phillip Phillips, Youth by Daughter and to the show of Narnia, Aslan's voice always seems to bring me joy—oh and Edmund's such a troublemaking brat that it's hard to like him sometimes, ah well, character development right?

Alright that's enough of that, so here's the new chapter! Happy reading!

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**Chapter 2**

Weighed-Down Metal Bird

"_There's only you and me in this infinitely amount of loathsome crap."_

When she had come to, the first things she had noticed was the color of blue, doted with white and other strange colors. The clouds were outlined with silver and written in the sky in a cursive way, the ends swiveling upwards and downwards like a voice's frequency written down on a frequency meter, it went up and down—like a heart monitor signaling that someone or somebody was still alive, and that somebody was her.

Her callow rock eyes spun and her ears rang and her mouth opened and closed like how a fish would, her lungs sang chorus' of breath and she was clutching something soft to her chest. Other voices and sensations soon blurred through the haze of the blue sky, their hands soon blotched out the sky, reaching towards her—but they were not a fearsome black, they were instead a radiant tanned brown, peach, pale-pink and so many others.

"Hey…" A voice called out, "Hey miss! Are you okay?"

She croaked out a response, "I…" Not much of one though.

"Move it! Out of the way!" A strangely familiar voice hollered, footsteps following and the clinking and clanking of metals.

Del groaned and lolled her head to the side, putting a hand over her eyes, "Where am I…?"

The wind blew and she picked up the scent of alloy, honey and pine; it was sweet and serene, just like the blonde-haired woman who bent down over her, shouting incoherent words as she grabbed Del by the shoulders, hoisted her upwards and helped her to God knows where, all the poor brunette could do was lean against the blonde's shoulder not even bothering to move as she felt the other stiffen but then relax. It was a nice feeling that made her chest swell with happiness of being needed, how greedy.

And the curtains known as eyelids closed.

* * *

Del saw brown next, a vague picture of it though—how strange, to think of a color as a picture with shapes, for color was not a shape nor was it a picture, it was merely a sewn part of something, something bigger.

Sewn onto a comfortable bed and trapped in it by heavy sheets, the female snuggled into its warmth and let out a contented sigh as she fingered her curly locks and breathed through her lashes. Her wrists were bound together by comfort and her nose twisted and filled to the brim with pumpkin spice, is it autumn already? She could of sworn it was summer just yesterday.

Wait a minute.

She instantly shot up and began breathing heavily whilst touching her eyes, she could see! She touched her mouth and traced her lips softly and began to hum the first opening of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Again by YUI.

What a fan she was, FMA was the light to her dark and she laughed at the thought—no it wasn't, her family was her light, her books was her light, her instructor was her light, she wouldn't say that FMA was her light, no, she had more matters to attend to, like for example; just where in the world was she?

Taking in the room's appearance, she smiled at its woody language. Wood floors, planked walls, simple single white bed, a small fire-lit lamp, and a vase of flowers(dandelions perhaps) completed with a small cup of tea half-full. The vase and cup sat on a small oak table on the far right of the room next to a window where the sun was perched on the hardware of the see-through glass, its rays penetrated glass and beckoned its love-brimmed fingers at Del.

Walking towards the light, she relished at the sight of sun and breathed in and out. Her breath was the only safety object she had left, her papers back home were probably strewn all over the floor and her pillow left on her chair; oh how she missed them.

Her index finger circled around the mug of tea below her, she stared at the brown liquid and saw a petal from the dandelion inside of it. She picked the cup up and held it to her nose and breathed in the scent of flowers, vanilla and mountain but was abruptly stopped by the creak of hinges.

Del swiveled around and widened her grey eyes at the person at the door, she was a teenager no doubt—around the age of herself, her hair was a shimmering yellow, her eyes a deep and bright blue which coursed deep within night and morning skies, a navy bandanna was wrapped around her forehead, she was wearing a black tank-top cut to the middle of her stomach, beige cargo pants and a beige jacket wrapped around her hip.

"You're awake, I see." The blonde smiled, walking towards Del, "How are you feeling?"

The brunette narrowed her eyes and knitted her eyebrows together, her pale face twisted into a distrustful slight-sneer as she replied, "Not good."

The other's smile didn't falter though, but her eye did twitch a bit or was it just Del's imagination playing tricks on her? It might of well done that, what with all this new room, new senses, new scenery and new person. Oh God, poor Del was doomed.

"I see," The blonde nodded and gestured for them to sit at the two chairs which were on each side of the table where the vase was, to which they sat, "So, let's start with introductions shall we, who are you?"

"Delamine Wright." Del replied her eyes sewn upon the mug she was fiddling with her fingers, "My mum and dad call me Delamine but my friends—" She bit her lip and paused for a moment, remembering her dolls, papers, instructor and maids. "they call me Del or Lami."

"You sure are open, Del." The blonde replied warmly, not wanting to scare the poor girl, "I'm Winry Rockbell, I'm an automail mechanic and I currently live in Rush Valley but I'm just visiting over here."

Winry, what a strange name—it felt so familiar to her ears but so foreign to her tongue as she whispered it, "Winry." The voice grew louder and she could hear it, the screams, laughs, hollers of anger, her wails and her tinkering hands as she placed different assortments of metals together, "It's… nice to meet you."

"Likewise!" Winry laughed her familiar laugh which rang bells in Del's mind, she could hear the crackling lightning, the maniac laughs, the end-of-show cliché laughs, the shouts of colonel to state alchemist, the clinks of armor and knives thrown. She could hear it once again and she loved it like fire, like tea, like dragons, like darkness, like light, like warmth and frostbitten chocolate.

"Fullmetal Alchemist…" Del mumbled, her hands shaking slightly as she did so which gained Winry's utmost attention.

"You know Ed?" She asked with uncertainty in her voice.

'Think swift! Think fast! Think you stupid brain!' She shrieked at herself, "O-Of course I do! Everyone knows him, I've heard of him often in C-Central!"

Winry immediately brightened but it was easily seen through, Del was new to eyesight of course, but the brunette could obviously see distrust and hesitation in her eyes, "Central! So you're from Central! How did you get here then?"

"I really have no idea." Del faked-sigh, trying to make it as believable as she could, "Where is _here_, anyways?"

"Resembool." The mechanic answered and looked out the window, motioning for Del to do the same(albeit she did as told reluctantly), "Pastures as far as the eye can see, brown and white fences, quiet, trees around and mountains a bit not too far away—isn't it peaceful?"

Del was silent as she looked out, her miniscule grey eyes flitting through the area and they smiled—yes, eyes can smile, "It's nice."

The lady in front of her laughed again and she could tell that it was genuine, "You should see it when Ed and Al are home! Oh the noise they make can really crack up a storm!"

Del found herself laughing along and enjoyed the feeling of her honey voice spilling from her pink lips, "Oh! Especially when Ed rants about milk! And-and when Al nags Ed about getting a cute little kitten-" She froze, 'Goddamnit."

The mechanic before her scowled, "You little screw, I knew you were hiding something!" Winry suddenly grinned and flipped out a wrench, fingering it before pointing it at Del's forehead, "Now spill."

The brunette gulped and held her hands up(one still holding the mug), "I'll spill! I'll spill! Just—put the wrench down!"

"Heard you the first time." Winry smiled smugly, much to Del's discontent.

Now that the wrench had been lowered, Del could finally explain herself—sorta. The brunette sighed and lowered her hands, now both clutching the mug of cold tea and dandelion petals, "You see, I was blind and mute before and no, I'm not joking." She looked up from her bushy eyebrows to see nothing but shock and pure-belief at Winry's face, Del took this as a sign to continue, "And so you see, I've always had a lot of insecurities about life, meaning I have a bunch of things to make me feel safe, like my pillow and stack of papers I always keep on my desk.

"One day, I went over to my desk and ran my fingers through the papers—you do know why I was doing that right?"

"No."

"I was reading braille."

"Braille?"

"I'll explain next time."

"Okay."

"But then I found a strange pattern on one of my papers, I started patting it with both my hands and then this voice said to me to clap my hands and push my palms down on the paper to which I did stupidly and I found myself in this really strange room and this creature! Oh this creature, it was white all over and it only had a mouth and it spoke like a male and female, it taught me to walk again and told me something about being sent to another world! It—it was terrible!" Del found her self weeping into the mug she was holding, Winry had gotten up from her seat and was already rubbing circles around the brunette's back.

"Hush now, it's alright." The mechanic cooed and continued to rub the poor weeping girl's back, "It's gonna be alright."

"No! It's not alright!" Del wailed loudly, which caused Winry to wrap her arms around the sniveling girl in her arms, "I can't even see my family anymore!"

To say that Winry believed her story was something impossible to do, it was irrational and completely stupid—but she couldn't help but care and pity the brunette in her arms, "Hey, if it makes you feel better… I only have my grandmother now."

Del stayed quiet in Winry's arms, only occasionally giving out small sniffs and hiccups every now and again.

"And…" The automail genius hesitated but smiled, "You've got me, y'know, till you decide to leave."

The brunette lifted her eyes and head, she stared at the female next to her and blinked her tears away, "Really?"

Winry nodded, "Absolutely, without a doubt, yes."

"Positively too?" Del grinned through her poofy eyes.

"Positively!" The other returned the grin.

Del laughed merrily and embraced the blonde teen, "Thank you! Thank you!"

And they joined chorus' of happiness as they conversed and spoke through the hours until the sun hit high in the sky, signaling that it was time for lunch.

"She should be home soon." The mechanic nodded, looking outside at the dancing blades of grass and white and yellow dandelions sitting out lounged upon the Earth.

"Your grandma?" Del questioned as she drank from the cup, It was Winry's cup but she gave it to Del since the brunette had already grew fond of it, her tears and dandelion petals(yellow, not white!) gave it a sweeter and milder taste and she loved it.

"Yeah—oh!"

"Winry!" An old croaked voice called from beyond the door, "I'm home and I've got a few surprises!"

"There she is." The blonde spoke fondly and gestured for Del to follow.

They walked out the room with their mug(yes, their because they've somehow become good friends through the hours) in Dela's hands, "Oh, wait, I'll put this back in the room first, I'll meet you at the living room!"

Nodding, Winry entered the living room first and threw a 'Make sure not to get lost!' at Del playfully to which was replied by a snort and 'Make sure to watch your flying wrenches!'

Quickly sprinting into her new room(yes, new room), Del set the mug on the table and sighed happily, looking out the window once more. She saw the land abundant with life like a mother's womb and as disheveled as morning hair, the clouds were drowsy and the trunks of trees were old and weary, the mountains which laid far ahead were fire and brimstones.

It was truly a marvel to see.

With a smile on her face, Del turned on her heel and fell.

She fell into that deep hole of despair she's always been in, the deep dark hole just behind the gate of Truth and Reality. She drowned and flailed her limbs and tried to shriek but no sounds came out, she banged her hands on the floor and listened to her erratic breathing. The door slammed open and she could hear Winry and a couple of other voices, but there was one voice she could easily made out, it was drilling holes into her skull.

"_**School time is over."**_

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**A/N:** Happy October 3rd! Don't forget that it's FMA day! Thank you for reading and I hoped you liked this chapter, I haven't proof-read this chapter so I apologize beforehand if there are any mistakes here.

Once again, thank you for reviewing—I mean reading! Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I'd rather jump off a building than ruin this series.

**A/N:** Ah, sorry for not being able to update this story yesterday! This new anime named 'Kyoukai no Kanata' came up and I decided to watch it and just wow, badass cute megane girl who fights monsters with blood! There's only one episode out but I recommend that you guys at least watch the first few minutes.

For the people who are confused on what happened at the last bit of the last chapter, basically when Del turned around to head to the living room everything turned to black and she fell on the floor, she panicked and began banging her fists on the floor and flailing about, Winry came in along with Pinako and two other people(cough cough you should already know by now), Del heard a voice saying "School time is over." And if you remember the first chapter, Truth said that to her and then she fainted.

Anyways, here's the new chapter.

**Music written to:** Arrival of the Birds(The Cinematic Orchestra), Forbidden Friendship(How to train you dragon OST), We Bought a Zoo(Jonsi), Paperman(Cristophe Beck), The blue umbrella(ft. Sarah Jaffe), Flying(James Newton Howard), Remember Me(Thomas Bergersen) and a shit ton of other music.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Breaking Rotterdam

"_There's only you and me in this infinitely amount of loathsome crap."_

It was black and cold and dark and small, she couldn't breathe and bubbles of white blotches stained her lungs. She could feel water—a whole gigantic body of water—surround her and she flailed her limbs yet she couldn't open her eyes in fear of salt water stinging her eyes. She was in a fish tank and she was a human out of air rather than a fish out of water, she kicked and reached and choked on her nonexistent breathe but nothing ever came.

A cold metallic hand reached down below, it was a gauntlet of some-sort, and then another hand—though it looked more of muscle and bone than a gauntlet of armor, and at last—a warm, flesh, blood beating, vein filled, wonderful and natural; arm.

She gasped and breathed in sweet air, the frightful dream was nothing more than a dream and Del was forever thankful. But leaves of no colors flew past her eyes, they touched her lashes and lips yet none awoken her eyes and she found herself blind; again.

A door creaked and the rush of one gasp and millions of footsteps thundered towards her, a sudden delightful warmth grasped her and held her close but all the blind girl could do was sit in shock, still trying to register what had happen in her brain.

"Del!" The voice cried out, "Oh you worried us sick! Are you alright? What happened back there?"

Del could only lift her shoulders and let them sag back down, her body felt heavily weighed by sandbags and all she wanted is for the sandman to visit her, give a kiss to each of her eyelids and be on his merry way, leaving the poor girl to sleep.

"Well then," the voice paused and Del recognized it, Winry it was, "Are you feeling alright now?"

With only a shake of her head, she could tell that Winry was growing impedingly worried, "Please say something at least then, Del, tell me you're alright—" The blonde's voice shrunk to a squeak from a mice as she whispered the last word, "—please?"

Now Del's head sank low and she pulled her knees to her chest(albeit awkwardly) and buried her nose in the sheets that were covering her knees, she shook her head again and raked her earthly hair softly, wincing every now and then at the twisted knots.

"A whisper, anything. Is it because your throat hurts? Does it feel hot? We have medicine with us if you need it, oh! How about some honey for—" Stopping Winry from going any further, the shaking girl raised a shaking hand and motioned for the mechanic to stop but failed and only succeeded in stalling the blonde, "… Or is it, because you just… can't?"

Del shook her head and began shaking, her hollow eyes shielded from Winry as tears began to well and soak her blanket.

"Del, look up, at least look up." And the brunette did so, expecting herself to see Winry's worried face but instead was replaced by a frizzy mocking black.

There was silence before voice, "… How many fingers am I holding up?"

Del wanted to laugh and slap Winry's shoulder then answer the correct number, but alas; she could not. Darkness clouded her stormy eyes and she could see only black. The brunette shook her head and let it fall back on her knees, she wept softly as Winry joined in, embracing the girl and whispering sweet comforting words into her tangled hair.

A knock was heard which was followed by a male's voice, "May I come in?" It was sweet like honey, caring like daisies but laced with anxiety, dread, experience and worry.

Winry lifted her head and motioned for the mystery man to come whilst Del mused over who this person was, he sounded familiar and the sound of clinkity-clankity metal was heard and suddenly the bed was shifted to one side as if a giant had sat on its side.

"Al." Winry had said and Del noticed immediately, Al—as in Alphonse Elric who is and will forever be the younger brother of Edward Elric, Al was taller than Ed as kids and has always been the more calm person in difference with Ed.

Suddenly, the black which was in front of Del frizzled and popped, colors exploded and a huge orchestra played the blues in the backdrop as the stars shrieked rainbow and evolved.

"Winry," Al had responded, "How is she?"

"She's alright, for now—says she can't see anything," Winry held the frozen girl tighter to her body, "Can't speak anything either."

The colors beyond Del's eyelids fitted itself into an arrow, it shot itself to the ground and Del could see colors morphing into shapes and buildings as the smell of pumpkin and fall became noticeable once more.

"Is there anything me and brother can do to help her?"

"I think maybe yes, if it isn't too much of a burden will you—"

Knock knock, "May I come in?"

Al laughed, "Wow brother, you never knock! What's the occasion?"

"Oh shut up, Al." The man referred to as 'brother' scoffed as he leaned against the door frame as it creaked.

Del groaned and felt her head sag to Winry's lap, she rolled her head to the side so that the tip of her small nose faced upwards toward the ceiling.

"Del?" Winry whispered, their activities drowned out from the two brothers as they bickered and teased each other.

The brunette groaned and squeezed her eyelids shut, she shifted her body and slowly opened her eyes. And to Winry's surprise, she could see the pupil and color return to Del's eyes, "Del!" She gasped and grasped the half-asleep half-awake girl's cheeks, "Can you see me? Nod if you can!"

Sweet grunts of annoyance slipped her lips as she answered with a stiff nod, how tired she felt.

"Speak! Speak! Say something!" Winry had begun slapping her cheeks and I swear, if you were there to witness this you'd be laughing as hard as my grandmother would when she saw my brother come back home naked from the airport.

Del groaned and murmured inaudible words to which Winry shrieked with all her might, "Speak you idiot!"

"Fifty-percent off on books…"

"What?!"

"FIFTY-PERCENT OFF ON BOOKS!"

The mechanic grinned wildly and embraced the brunette, "I have no idea what you just said but thank gears you're back to normal!"

Awkwardly returning the hug, Del patted the other girl on the back softly, "Books, you know, discount? Half price and all that, Mum used to tell me all about them when she went out with the maids, used to always buy too many books and papers for me."

"Your mum sounds like a very nice person, miss." Del looked up from her embrace to see a metal armored man(or was there a man?) looking at her with what seemed to be a smile, she could see it—yet not physically.

Detaching herself from Winry, Del suddenly grew shy and began rubbing her right forearm, "Thank you."

"My name is Alphonse, and over there is my brother, Edward, it's nice to meet you." Al's warm voice filled the room as he outstretched his gauntlet.

Warily taking his gauntlet in hand, Del shook it and replied, "My name is Delamine Wright, but please call me Del or Lami."

"Call me Al then." Alphonse grinned merrily from his eyes but it soon dropped as a cough ensued from Edward.

"So, what was up with that?" The blonde haired man asked impatiently, "You worried her sick—especially her grandmother."

Del cringed at this and looked down at her lap, how cliché, "Sorry, but I—I really have no idea."

Ed frowned and sighed as he walked over to her; albeit a bit smugly as he saw her flinch, he inwardly grinned at the feeling of towering over the girl, nobody could call him a shorty now!

"So, if you can't answer that, then explain to us," He paused for emphasis and crossed his arms above his chest, "—just how in the hell do you know about us and our certain…" The alchemist paused and tapped his chin, "What's the word?"

"Qualities?" Al chimed.

"Handicaps?" Winry offered to which the blonde haired alchemist glared at her.

"Certain properties?" Del spoke.

"Yeah all of them, except for Winry's." Ed nodded as said blonde-haired mechanic glared at him, Ed turned his attention back to Del and narrowed his eyes, "So? How do you know them?"

It was different than telling Winry about it, the mechanic was more open and more trusting than Ed(minus Al). It was easy to tell Winry but not Ed and Al, would they call her a liar? Laugh in her face? Kick her out of the house? Sure, it was Winry's grandmother's house and they seriously couldn't, but could they persuade? Del doubted that they'd go to such lengths.

"Well?" Ed was already tapping his foot, a vein mark was pumping up and down on his forehead and Del found this quite comical. She wanted to laugh but held it in and replied solemnly.

"You guys wouldn't believe me."

"Oh? Try me—us, Winry's convinced so why wouldn't we be also? But this better be the truth."

Rolling her eyes and feeling annoyed, Del answered, "Fine. I used to be blind and mute—"

"I said don't lie!"

"—shut up, squirt. Anyways,"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP WHO'S TOO SMALL TO GET INTO THE MILITARY?"

"ARE YOU GOING TO LET ME CONTINUE OR WHAT?!"

"Psh, fine."

"Seriously. Where was I? Oh right, I used to be blind and mute—not joking here—and I used to have a few safety objects to keep myself company, like a pillow and a few papers which I have to read in order to—"

"How can you read if you're blind?" Del was prepared to slap Ed this time but refrained from doing so as she realized that it was Al who asked, she smiled at him and answered his question with a voice full of warmth.

"With braille, of course!"

"Braille?"

"Yes," Del paused and scratched the back of her neck, "You guys don't know what braille is? Don't you have it?"

"I don't think so." Ed intervened, but there was no mocking in his tone, there was no false-sincerity in it either, just complete curiosity and Del loved it, she's always loved curiosity, whether from herself or from somebody else. She respected it.

"I'll explain it quickly for you guys, also for Winry since you asked me about what it was before, right?"

Said mechanic nodded, "Yeah."

"Braille is basically a tactile writing system used by the blind, braille characters are small rectangular blocks called cells that contain tiny palpable dots called raised dots. So we basically read and learn by using touch, tracing fingers along wood, walls, books, papers and others."

"How do you memorize them?" Questioned Winry.

"Years or for some, months, of practice." Del grinned, "It took me a year and a few months, it's a bit hard I have to say."

"Complicated, who made it?" Ed whistled as he teetered back and forth on his feet.

"Louis Braille, he went blind after a childhood incident. He developed this language when he was 15 for the French alphabet in 1824, though it was published in 1829."

"French alphabet?"

"Uh, somewhere I know, French as in for France."

"Where is it?" The blue-eyed mechanic questioned curiously.

"Somewhere I know."

"Is it nice there? I wanna try and visit." Ed mused.

"I don't know—look, can we please get back to my story?"

"Fine by me." The alchemist shrugged and leaned onto the wooden wall.

"Good. Anyways, I have a pillow and a few papers which served as my safety object. So one day I went over to my desk where the papers were and began feeling them over—"

"Pfft. Feeling them o-over!" Ed guffawed, clutching his stomach as he bent over.

Winry's snickers and Al's surprisingly cute little snorts soon followed his chorus of laughter as Del turned an ugly color of embarrassed red, she scowled at them and barked, "Can we please get back to my story?!"

Their laughter eventually died down leaving Ed to wipe tears from the corners of his eyes, "C-Continue."

Del wrinkled her nose and huffed out a breath of impudence, "As I was saying," A glare was thrown at Edward, "Then I felt a strange pattern on it, it was like a circle with another circle inside and then other shapes inside it," Del paused as the male blonde and man of armor froze, "I began patting it and looking at it with my fingers, then I heard an odd voice telling me to clap my hands and pat it again, more forcefully this time. I then felt my body hurting all over, but then you see, I started seeing colors and shapes and much more than black."

"I blacked out and woke up in this really strange room with these," Gesturing to her current dark and light contrasted outfit, "really strange clothes." Ed scoffed, and this time, Del whacked him.

"Ow! What was that for?!" The blonde man barked as he rubbed the spot where he had been hit, which was apparently the bottom of his chin.

"For being a jerk!" Del growled.

"Brother, Miss Del, please don't fight." Alphonse reasoned as he extended a palm to stop the brunette and blonde, which was sadly ignored.

"What do you mean by jerk?! I didn't even insult you!"

"You scoffed at me!"

"At your clothes!"

"You agreed that they were ugly! You're not supposed to say that, you _jerk_!"

"I didn't say anything!"

"You implied it!"

Winry sighed tiredly and began massaging her temples, "Oh God…"

"I scoffed because it wasn't ugly! I disagreed because it didn't look bad! Heck, it actually looks pretty good on you!"

Suddenly, it was as if time froze.

Alphonse, Winry, Delamine, and Edward were completely frozen. It took a good one-minute for their brains to finally register what Ed had said.

Del and Ed turned as bright red as Ed's coat as Winry broke into snickers and Al guffawed just as Ed had, they were two of a pair afterall.

The mechanic's small snickers turned into big and long laughs(including occasional snorts), "Air! Air!" Winry doubled over in laughter and quickly rushed to the door, "I need Air! Oh my God!"

"No! Wait! Winry! Don't leave me here with him!" Del had protested loudly as her face turned into another shade of bright red as Ed covered his face with his hands, Winry had just left her! The nerve of that girl!

Al was slapping his thigh as he chortled and spurted out laughter, "W-Winry! Pfft-Bahaha! I'm coming with you!" He rose from the bed and walked out the room, and just like that—

"Al! No! Don't leave me here with her!"

—the door slammed closed.

The room was taken by a heated silence, the only sounds which were evident was the soft chirps of birds and breaths that came from the two.

Burnt charcoal met mined gold and their cheeks turned pink. Del's pale face was no excuse for this since she was so pale and neither was Ed's, who was a bit more tanner than she was but alas; his skin was not enough to hide his rosy cheeks.

They quickly looked down. Del at her lap and Ed at his shuffling feet.

"So…" The brunette cleared her throat and looked up at Ed from her long lashes and bushy eyebrows, her voice was childish as she continued, "Story time?"

Ed also looked up and he grinned, the rosy color still stained on his cheeks, "Yeah, story time."

* * *

**A/N:** The ending was fun to write! God I hope I didn't screw up anybody's character in this. As expected, this chapter is far more longer than the last one and much more eventful.

Also, to clear up any confusion, the reason why Del didn't recognize them by their looks and only recognized them by their voices was because she couldn't watch the show and could only hear it, hence the voice thing.

Anyways, since that's cleared up, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please review, it gives me more inspiration for chapter and what not!

Thank you and have a nice day! c:

**Special thanks to:** _Wikipedia for the definition of Braille and who made it._


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **WHERE IS MY MONEY FOR MAKING FMA–oh right, I didn't.

**A/N:** Can I just say that I love writing? Gosh you guys and your reviews I'm gonna die, I'm not worthy so very not worthy of your praise, it's too overwhelming oh sweet lord.

Oh and by the way have you ever read a Fanfic with paragraphs on it? Like, actual god-forsaken BLOCK paragraphs. I swear to God, if any of you can manage an entire fic with those kind of paragraphs I(and other people too) will worship the ground you walk on.

Ah anyways, here's the new chapter and I hope all of you enjoy it!

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Vinyl Records

"_There's only you and me in this infinitely amount of loathsome crap."_

It's been two days, nine hours, twenty-four minutes and five—no, eight seconds since the Elrics had arrived.

Del found them adequate to be around with, especially Al—what with his big heart and kind nature, even if his soul was somewhat trapped inside that armor—yes she knew about this don't let it get your panties twisted and hung out to dry, she's heard the recordings of the series, don't you remember? Of course you do, you're the reader.

For the past couple of hours, Del had been outside by the front porch of the Rockbells residence soaking in the sunlight and clean oxygen, the land was soaked in the scent of tomato juice and it felt nice to her pale lips.

But that wasn't all Del did, no—she mused and thought about her family and friends back home where all were probably searching for her frantically, and the brunette was really sorry—beyond sorry in-fact, but she wasn't ready to tell anyone about this though, she kept it all in a small glass bottle and stuffed it deep within her bloodstream.

Then her thoughts suddenly drifted back to FMA and recalled the moments which had happened within the series and surely, meeting her wasn't one of the events—and the thought occurred to her, is she messing with the timeline? Would something change in the great scheme of things during her time here? And the answer she gave herself was one 'Of course!'.

But then a memory came to her, it was much less than a thought and more than a picture; it was a video. She was rewatching the scene of her falling to the ground, flailing and banging her limbs on the floor—how childish she would have looked in front of Winry!

Del covered her face with her hands and groaned into them, why did fate—no, the _entire_ world hate her so much! She was born blind and mute for God's sake, wasn't that enough? Is it still enough? Was that white creature really her creator—hold up, wait; why did her thoughts drift off to Truth again?

And 'again' as in, the fifth time today. The words kept replaying over and over and over again, at home when she found the weird circles, pulled into the gate, momentarily turning blind and mute once more—wasn't this enough punishment? To never hear her mother and father? To never feel the touch of her instructor's smooth fingers upon her own as they guided her through made up dots she had foolishly believed to be words?

The brunette sighed and raked her fingers through her thick hair, 'What do I do now? I can't keep staying here, I'd be a burden to Winry's grandmother—speaking of Winry, didn't she say she was leaving in a few days? Oh what luck I have!'

Del groaned again and began pulling wisps of her hair, unaware of a certain someone's amused stare.

"Frustrated?"

The poor female could only sigh and release her hair, "Not now Ed."

"I brought your favorite, dandelion tea right?" Edward took a step closer so that he was beside Del but also still behind her, "Here." Tentatively, the blonde extended a hand which was holding a cream cup to which was taken by Del, very cautiously and carefully as to not wanting to spill any.

"Thanks." The female managed to say as she took a little sip from her cup.

Del moaned happily at the taste of dandelions in her mouth, "Thank you, again."

"Don't mention it." The Elric replied as he took a sip from his own blue cup but flinched as it came in contact with his lips, "Gah, that's hot."

"Blow on it a little before you drink it, don't rush—enjoy the taste." Del laughed softly as she rolled her eyes and drank from her cup again.

"Whatever you say, Miss tea-expert." Ed mocked playfully as he leaned onto the wooden railing.

Del let her eyes wander towards where Ed was and took in his appearance, white shirt and ebony pants, simple and comfortable. She dropped her gaze and became suddenly wary of her own, black shorts, white T-shirt and Winry's cream shawl.

She shifted in her seat and looked down at the planks below her bare feet, they were worn out and dusted, but they looked peaceful; like the two humans who were simply enjoying the comfortable silence.

"Knock, knock," A soft voice came from behind them, "May I come in—outside, I mean."

Ed was the first one to recognize who this was.

"Sure Al," he chuckled and looked over his shoulder, throwing a smile at his brother, "But aren't you supposed to knock and ask if you're coming inside, not outside?"

"That's exactly what I thought." Del grinned, clear amusement on her face.

The suit of armor only gave off what would be a seemingly stiff shrug, to which Ed responded with a slight shake of the head as he looked forward, "I miss this."

Al nodded, "Yeah—we used to come over all the time and play with Winry in the grass."

Ed laughed quietly, "Mhm," His voice suddenly grew thick and quiet, "Mum would always scold us whenever we came home with dirty clothes."

"Yeah, it was always so simple back in the past." Al added, solemnly.

Clearing her throat and getting up politely, Del gestured toward the door, "I'm going to go inside—you guys are having a moment and I wouldn't want to intrude, oh dear—excuse me please." She approached the door and grasped the knob in her palm, she twisted it and was about to push it open and enter the house but was stopped by Ed's voice.

"No, it's fine, just stay." It was simple, a simple sentence; but why was it giving Del all these strange sparks fitting threw the gaps of her teeth and fingers, seeping its way into her fragile skin, it was like a child needing a mother, a friend of yours needing you.

Although it was not really seen, Del had grown closer to the Elrics and Rockbells. Through the course of two days, they had bonded over tea and adventures; as well as one or two wrenches from Winry, it was simply delightful to watch to be honest.

Now back to the situation at hand.

"Alright." The brunette replied, albeit hesitantly.

Del approached her seat then looked down at it, taking in the creaky wood and holes and scratches which had marred itself there through the ages.

She wrapped the shawl closer to her body and sat down, not taking notice of the big metal suit next to her but jumping and letting out a small yelp at the contact for warm skin against cold metal, "Al!" The female breathed, "Gosh, you scared me."

The boy only laughed, "Sorry, didn't know you hadn't noticed me yet."

"Sorry." Half-guilty and half-playful, Del grinned and gestured towards Ed and winked at Al, sending a secret message to the younger brother, "But at least-"

"Miss Del, please don't." Al whispered quietly.

"-I was-"

"Miss Del!" The younger brother whispered again but much louder.

"-able to see you, Ed, improvement right?"

"Del!" Al gasped as Ed lunged for her, to which she ducked and ran towards the path which led to who knows where.

"I'd really love to stay and chat, but I've gotta run! See you guys!"

"Come back here you piece of dandelion trash!" Ed barked and ran after her, "Al! Tell Winry that I and Miss flower expert will be back later!"

"But brother—!"

"Later, Al!"

And as the boy and girl ran off, all poor Al could do was let his head sag as he groaned tiredly.

"Oi! Pansy! Wait up!" Ed hollered as he ran after her, she was surprisingly fast, but not fast enough.

"No way!" She huffed and puffed, with red cheeks and beads of sweat rolling down from her forehead.

It was odd you know, that Del was blind and mute for most of her life and yet could run fast—but you see, the secret to this is no magic nor was it devilry, it was purely in her genes; you see, her mum was a runner back in her days of youth, she travelled the world when she was younger and met a nice and handsome man who she then later married.

Anywho, back to the chase at hand.

Ed lept, Del tripped and what basically happened was the blonde basically lept too far and the brunette stayed on the ground for too long, Ed had now landed completely on Del's backside to which the poor girl groaned, "Oh my God, how much do you weigh?! Get off!"

The blonde growled but couldn't wipe the satisfied smirk off his face, "52 kilograms and proud of it!"

"Proud?! How can someone so small be so heavy?!" Del immediately became silent as what she had said finally sunk in, "Whoops."

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING AN ULTRA-SIZED MIDGET?!"

"I didn't say that!"

"GRAAAAHHHH!"

"AAAAHHHH!"

And so began their small flee and attack battle on the ground, other than fists and kicks being thrown a lot(albeit sloppily, you can blame Del), there were also various name-callings.

"MIDGET!"

"FLOWER-PRINCESS!"

"PIPSQUEAK!"

"MAN-HATER!"

"I AM NO MAN-HATER!"

"_SHORT_ MAN-HATER!"

"JERK!"

"PANSY!"

And various others which I will not repeat.

A sudden flying metal object collided with Ed's forehead, making him flip backwards and barrel several feet away.

"Wrench…? Winry!" Del smiled brightly, her eyes filled with hope as she turned around, "Winry! Oh, am I glad to—"

A book implanted itself onto Del's cheek, leaving a surprisingly glowing red mark.

"Ugh, you idiots!" A feminine voice shrieked, she stomped to where Del was first and hoisted her to her feet, "Up!" Dragging Del along with her, Winry hoisted Ed to his feet, "Up!"

She took each of the tips of their ears and yelled while yanking on them, "What were you guys thinking?!"

"Ow ow ow!" Del whispered and tried to pry Winry's fingers off but sadly failed.

"Ed! I told you to simply go to her and give her some tea!" The blonde mechanic had fixed her attention solely on the older Elric, "And you just had to get in a fight—with a guest! My guest! A guest of all things! Honestly!"

"It wasn't my fault! She started it first!" Ed protested as he pointed an accusing finger at Del to which she flinched at, "Look at her! All innocent at first—but on the inside… she's just a—"

"Enough!" Winry managed to ground out, "Al! You take Ed and I'll take Del, we're bringing them back to the house!"

A metal hand grabbed Ed as the person inside of it whispered 'Sorry' before hoisting the blonde alchemist over his shoulder and carrying him away.

"And as for you," Winry narrowed her eyes at Del, "What did you say to him?"

"Nothing! I just—" Del sputtered and spouted various words after.

"You called him short, didn't you?"

"..."

"I knew it!"

"By accident!"

"_Accident_ my gears!"

"But I—!"

"I'm going to put you in one room with Ed until you two can stop this behavior, and if you can't; you can just kiss the rest of your days of freedom goodbye."

"No! You wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, I would; I would very much."

* * *

And she did, Winry had locked them in a room(with help from Alphonse) and Del wanted to scream.

Not that it wasn't a very good room, it was quite nice actually. The room served as the second guestroom of the house and had the necessities of everything, to the right was a closet and a nice desk with blank papers stacked neatly, on the left was where a shelf filled with books and two separate beds laid.

There was a coffee table in the middle of the room with four chairs and one small rug underneath it.

Ed was furiously pacing back and forth in said room, muttering curses and how he wished he could just break down the wall and get out but then said something about being hit by wrenches.

Del sighed quietly and walked to the shelf filled with books, she hoped that at least there was one book with braille, she couldn't read otherwise.

Oh, right.

Winry hardly knew what braille was, how was she supposed to find a book with it written then?

Sighing again she plopped her boredom written body onto the soft mattress, "So, what do you suppose we do?"

Ed scoffed and held up his hands, "Us? We? No! You're the one who got me in this situation in the first place!

Offended, Del huffed and replied hotly, "If you learned to keep your temper, then neither of us would've been caught here!"

"You ran!"

"You jumped on me!"

Lightning crossed the distance between their eyes as they growled feral-like to one another.

A muffled shout of 'Behave!' came from outside of the door causing Del and Ed to break eye contact immediately.

Uncomfortable silence made a nest inside the room and settled into it as the two kept silent, Del was angry and awkward; she was angry at the fact that she was locked in a room and awkward because of this silence.

Dark beluga eyes trailed over to where the shelf full of books were, maybe she could learn? Couldn't have been that hard, right?

The brunette approached the shelf and took out a worn-out leather book with strange engravings on them, but she could read though—which surprised her, and then the memory came to her, how Truth had said that she was given a wholesome amount of intelligence for a blind and mute girl.

She frowned at the fact but opened the book anyways, it was about music actually, how it came to Amestris, where it originated, who made it, what kind of instruments were present, and some legends regarding them.

"Music came to Amestris by the hands of Lee Fang who first demonstrated his musical talent in what we now know as Central," Del whispered to herself as she ran her fingers through the words painted on the parchment, taking them in as well, "He brought a trumpet, a violin and a tuba with him; these now serve as three out of five of Amestris' most important, historical and commonly used instruments—"

And so it continued, she read quietly to herself as Ed paced back and forth trying to scheme a way out of this predicament, but without noticing—he had stopped pacing and began listening to Del read.

"—music, Roderick Rayler then brought in the piano which has become a very common item to be seen in most houses around Central. You play it by pressing the ebony and ivory keys, sometimes together to produce a special sound—note or chord if you will. This has improved the culture of Amestris, but through culture comes knowledge; and through knowledge—"

"—comes arrogance and lust for power." Ed finished solemnly, he was now next to Del and had been reading along with Del.

Del was silent as she stared at Ed, but slowly directed her eyes back to the book, "And that is all I can conclude, hopefully this will benefit you and give you more knowledge just as it had for my family."

"With care, Aaron Rockbell." The blonde and brunette finished together, staring at the last 'l' written; both equally curious.

"Curious." Ed murmured and gently took the worn book from Del's hands.

The female nodded, "and even more curiouser." She smirked smugly inside, she found that she loved quoting Alice in Wonderland; or what was sort-of a quote from the book, it was—after all—one of her favorite braille translated books.

Taking the book from the gloved fingers of Ed, she slipped it back into the shelf and sighed as she looked over her shoulder to come face to face with golden orbs, "So, what do we do now?"

The blonde only shrugged as he returned her stare, "Not sure."

Silently, Del turned on her heel and walked past Ed, heading towards the sun ridden window.

She looked out and saw leaves peeling and vines of sunlight being pushed through the grey clouds closing in, Del frowned as she heard the clouds crackle and roar.

"Once upon a time," She began as she remembered the nights where she felt soft pitter patters of water come from above and wet her pale skin, "There was a girl who fell from a ship which crossed the heavens above, she loved flying and it was a shame for a winged angel like her to fall.

She fell at sunset and saw the blue of sky turning into the red of embers, not long after she found herself in an orange body of silver water; it was known as the pacific ocean—at day it was a bright blue, at sunset it was a deep and memorable palette of red and at night it was the sky only with ripples and bright lights, millions of small ones and one big glowing ball in it."

And then she remembered her mother's voice, sweet and soothing like dandelion tea, "She sputtered and swam but her wings only weighed her down, so she cut them off and used them as a tail; like how a fish would. She swam to the surface and downed air like sweet wine, her tail then became an umbrella for which she would use for a boat as she floated and fumbled across the seas, trying to find a way to get home.

But she never did, but she did create nations—she created language, tenses, the names of time and so much more; but she was soon forgotten by most men and women, but some haven't and have left this tale as a remembrance of what she had done, for it was not only her doing to spread wisdom—it was also fate's, the gears never stop churning and so will you, and forever yours will be. Always."

Lightning illuminated the room as the windows rattled against cold winds, the fire howled and the mountains rose and snowed as Ed's eyes burned brimstone, "I don't believe the story—"

Del frowned.

"—but it's beautiful."

Del turned towards Ed and smiled, "Thank you, my mum used to read it to me when I was young."

The alchemist smiled weakly, "That's nice, you're lucky to have a mother like that."

The brunette turned towards the window once more and saw her glass reflection stained with the sky's wet tears, "I am."

She saw Ed's reflection step into her own, his golden eyes reflected a god's fury as it burned in what she would call a small fire of envy. Del felt guilty, why did she have to bring up the topic of mothers? How insensitive she was.

"You seem sad." She commented.

"Not really." Ed lied.

"Okay then." Del didn't want to push it.

"Okay." And so did he.

A mutual agreement came to them silently as they stared at the tears rolling down the window and Del couldn't believe it as it finally hit her, she finally saw rain—the streaks of white and blue her instructor so loved, the grey skies and wet land; it was beautiful. A mixture of grey, navy and blue and white—oh the sounds the clouds make, it was like the hum of her father and her grandfather.

She raised her hand and touched the glass, Del smiled a moaned softly at the cold sensation, "I love the cold."

Ed raised an eyebrow and looked at her, "Do you now?"

She replied with a small grin and nodded, "Yes."

"That's nice."

"Mmm, it is."

They heard a lock being unlocked and a knock knock, the door creaked open revealing a blonde woman with a questioning expression, "Are you two down making up?"

Ed and Del looked at each other and smiled, turning to Winry.

"I don't think there was anything to make up about in the first place." Del grinned as she gave Winry a positive thumbs-up.

The mechanic smiled and clasped her hands together, "Well, that's great then! Supper is ready, so get yourselves cleaned up and head to the dining room—Ed, you can show her, right?"

The blonde boy nodded and made a shooing gesture to which the blonde female scoffed at as she smiled good-naturedly and walked out the door, closing it softly behind her.

Thunder roared again as Ed toward Del, "You go wash up first, I'll go after you."

Taking it as an act of simply being polite, Del nodded and gathered up her clothes then walked out, unaware of the alchemist clutching his arm and debated on something.

Supper came and they were served mashed potatoes, tender chicken, green salad with nuts and meat.

"Thank you for the meal." The brunette spoke between polite munches, "The food is very nice."

Pinako grinned proudly and responded, "Think nothing of it dearie, a friend of Winry is a friend of the Rockbells."

Del smiled and continued eating.

"Oh yeah, hey brother—" Alphonse began, he was sitting at the table but didn't eat(as expected), "Colonel Mustang called in, he said he wanted us to return to Central; he thinks they've finally got Scar's location pinpointed and want you to find him."

"Colonel Bastard's more like it…" Ed huffed under his breath.

"Watch your tongue Ed, no cursing at the time—especially when there's a guest here." The short woman scolded.

Ed rolled his eyes and mumbled some incoherent words under his breath and then responded, "We'll go."

Al nodded.

"How about Del?" Winry questioned curiously as she stared at the two Elric brothers, her blue eyes flitting from Al to Ed.

Ed stole a glance from Del and faced Winry, "What of her?"

"How about you take her with you?" The blonde said as she stuffed a spoon full of mashed potatoes in her mouth, "Maybe help her get home? Wherever it is."

Del felt offended as she heard the distrust slither its way back into Winry's voice.

"I think we can do that, is that alright with you though, Miss Del?" The metal armor spoke.

"Yeah, I guess." The brunette said quietly, "Call me Del, drop the miss."

"Alright then." Winry smiled as she took in another spoon full of food.

Silence took over as Del grew exceedingly peeved at the distrust she heard, could Winry's sweet words after all be nonexistent? Was all that comforting and believing and friendliness just a mask to hide her disbelief? Granted, the thought of coming from another world was ludicrous, but it wasn't entirely unbelievable—at least that's what Pinako knew.

"Actually," Del began irritably as she poked her salad with her fork, "I don't think you should take me to Central."

Winry paused eating and looked at her with confused eyes, "And why is that?"

"Because," The brunette scowled in a brat-like way, "I don't think the military can take me home."

"I understand that the military is just a group filled with loonies thinking they can control everything," Ed interjected, "But even as the way they are, I'm sure they can take you home, wherever it is, like Winry said."

Del was beyond offended, she was angry and annoyed—the two people who she'd considered friends with for the moment were showing where their true loyalty laid, logic against friendship.

"But they can't," The female said again, "Because it isn't in this world, I'm sure of it."

"Del, drop it." Winry flashed another one of her good-natured smiles which made Del's stomach churn with anger, oh how she wanted to scream and tell them all that it was the truth.

Ed stayed quiet as he watched the two females, he was growing wary of Del's eyes filled with anger, it was like a waterfall of fire and stones raining down from a sky full of oceans.

"Fine then." The brunette spat and dropped her utensil onto her plate, making a loud clattering sound to which Al cringed at, "I'm done. Thank you for the meal Miss Pinako, it was _absolutely_ wonderful." She drawled the word _absolutely_ as she glared at Ed and Winry then stormed off into what was called her room.

"Wait, Del—" Winry had gotten up from her seat and had an arm outstretched, trying to stop Del to which was ignored by the angry female slamming the door close.

The mechanic frowned and sighed tiredly, "What'd I say wrong?"

The blonde alchemist stayed quiet still, he had stopped eating and was looking at the door of Del's room guiltily but also in confusion, what had they said to make her so angry?

Pinako sighed, "You basically betrayed her trust."

"What?" Ed had finally broken out of silence as he uttered the word, turning towards the grandmother.

"She's telling the truth—take it from me, she isn't the only who's said the same thing." The wrinkled ridden woman spoke as she took in a spoon full of mashed potatoes just as Winry had.

"What?" It was Winry's turn to say the words.

Pinako sighed and gestured for her granddaughter to sit, "Sit down, this is going to be quiet a tale I'm about to tell."

* * *

**A/N:** And there you have the new chapter!

Thank you for reading, I hope that the characters here weren't too ooc, but please tell me if they were and how I'd be able to improve their in character-ness.

Anywho, once again thank you for reading and please review! They give me motivation for writing chapters, thank you and have a great day!


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I do not own FMA, how many times do I have to slap you for you to understand?

**A/N:** Heyyy guys! I'm so sorry that this update is a bit late and stuff, but as usual school's been a huge pain and Tumblr has been keeping me busy and stupid haircuts and basically stupid everything.

So, uh—I got this review from ShadowCaster01(wonderful review by the way) who said that me making Ray be able to read so quick and stuff was a bit too soon for the story and seeing and reading the chapter all over again I agree, darn it I could have used Ed to teach her some words and stuff, I regret it so much now ;;A;

Also, it was also stated that my style of writing used to be in favor back in the days of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, but now it isn't so in favor. I've looked up a few of the books I've read(which influenced my writing style) and apparently yes—they mostly date back to those times, so I'll try and change it a bit so there won't be so many metaphors, similes, personifications and etc. in chapters.

And so apparently Del isn't mute but actually dumb(meaning the disability to speak), mute actually means deaf(or so ShadowCaster01 has said) but I'll be using mute because I'm gonna follow Wikipedia on this one.

Anyways, sorry for this long A/N and without further interruptions; here is the new chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Hey there, old Venus.

"_There's only you and me in this infinitely amount of loathsome crap."_

"What?" Winry spoke, her gold eyebrows knitting together in mixed confusion and agitation.

"Sit down, this is going to be quite a tale I'm about to tell." Sighing, Pinako leaned back on her pine chair with her arms crossed.

Almost immediately, Winry sat down on her chair and turned towards her grandmother while Ed and Al were silent, staring at the older female expectantly.

"When I was only but a young girl, no older than seventeen," She began, "I was sent off into the town to fetch a new hammer and wrench, I expected this to be a normal trip but I was sadly mistaken."

**[Flashback]**

_A much younger Pinako walked back to her truck with a brown paperbag in hand, her messy brown hair bouncing up and down as she did so._

_She whistled to herself as she opened up the back of her truck, expecting to see nothing but an empty little metal box filled with a few more boxes of cardboard and maybe a few dust bunnies here and there._

_But that's not what she saw, for what she saw was instead a human—a woman to be exact, with strange green hair, strange black dress, strange hat and much more stranger things covered in bright red blood which burned her eyes like those of a crackling ember's._

_Panicking, Pinako climbed into her truck and shook the woman softly, _"_Hey—hey, are you okay? Hello?"_

_Poor Pinako couldn't function properly as she stumbled out of the truck, throwing her paper bag in the front seat and practically throwing herself in too._

_She revved the vehicle and speeded all the way back home. Upon arriving, she opened the back of her truck and helped the fainted woman on her back, Pinako ran into the house and shouted, "Mum! Dad!"_

_A woman rushed out from the kitchen with a plate in hand while a man with glasses rushed down from the stairs—they were Pinako's parents, Edaline Rockbell and Harry Rockbell._

_Edaline screamed at the sight and dropped the plate she had been holding making a very loud crashing sound as she covered her eyes and cowered in fear at the bloody woman._

_Harry widened his eyes and ran over to his daughter with a shocked expression, "Pinako! Are you alright? What happened? Who is this?"_

"_Later! Can you quickly dress her wounds first? She's spilled so much blood!" The brunette sputtered frantically as her eyes swam with concentrated worry._

_Her father—the doctor, nodded and quickly shifted the frail girl into his arms, "Get the medic kit in the bathroom, Pinako—I'll be in the guestroom."_

_With that, Pinako nodded and rushed off to fetch the said kit as the doctor hurried to the guestroom with the limp girl in his arms._

_As the brunette ran back to the living room and opted her legs to take her to the guestroom, she stopped and quickly hugged her mother, whispering, "It's gonna be okay, just stay here, alright mum?"_

_Releasing her mother and kissing her right eyelid, the younger female ran to the guestroom with the kit in her arms then quickly set it on the oak nightstand._

"_I need water and soap!" Her father commanded as he checked the young lady's wounds, his eyes widening every now and then as he did so._

_Grabbing a cup from the kit, Pinako ran out the room and into the guest bathroom where she fetched a bottle of soap and filled the cup with water._

_Once finished, she dipped a rag into the cup and handed it to her father to which he used to lightly press on the biggest wound that ran from the female's waist to her thigh—it was deep, but not too deep as to damage any internal organs._

"_Tweezers! There's something stuck inside!"_

_Pinako handed him the metal object, it was cool to the touch and would no doubt ease the pain for the poor girl, probably._

_Sticking in the tweezers gently in the wound, the doctor widened the wound a bit and peered inside—to which he gasped and nearly lost his grip on the tweezers, for what he saw was not muscle, skin or organs—but in reality, sand._

_Inside this woman was pure white sand, to which became red as it spilled out from her, Pinako gasped and clasped her hands together in front of her agape lips as she took a few steps back._

"_Pinako! Snap out of it! Give me the soap!" Her father had regained consciousness from the hypnotizing glare of white sand and quickly set to work again._

_As they worked diligently to close the wounds, the sun passed and now it was night—it took very long for them to close all the wounds, for the sand would only spill in much more amounts, making it a very hard task for cleaning and closing._

_Sweat beaded her forehead as she kept watch over the stranger, her father had long retired and she was left to tend to the un-moving girl._

_Pinako drank in her appearance and it made the brunette choke on her breath all over again, dark green hair which reflected trees, skin as pale as moonlight, cheeks as pink as peaches, dark and curly eyelashes which hid her eyes and lips tinted just like pink seashells._

_Gently laying a hand on the female's forehead, Pinako sighed in relief at the contact of normal temperature, "No fever, that's good."_

_Pinako leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, "Say, what's your name?" she asked out of boredom as she directed her eyes to the window where the stars laid and where the moon was awake, "Mine is Pinako Rockbell, I'm an apprentice of a really good doctor—who's also my father, he's a really good man y'know, he dressed your wounds and was pretty calm about it, despite what he saw under your skin, well—er you know._

_Mum's also pretty nice also, she said she'll make you a really big meal once you wake up—I hope you wake up soon, because to be honest; you're kinda annoying, you scared my mother half to death and to tell you the truth, I didn't like how pale she was, she really doesn't like blood—"_

"_My name is something I can't tell you," A voice said making Pinako turn towards the direction of the bed, only to be met with bright green eyes which glowed like dandelions, "but you can call me Secret, I'm sorry for scaring your mother—and yes, your father is a very nice man."_

_The brunette was frozen, she tried to muster a reply but it only came out as small spurts of letters, "Y… P-a! A-k-a!"_

"_Secret," She pointed to herself, "I can't tell you my real name; so call me Secret, it's nice to meet you Pinako, I'm sorry for the trouble."_

**[End Flashback]**

"Secret and I became friends, I convinced your great grandparents to keep her here and they agreed—one day, she began saying things like 'I came from another world' and 'I'm not actually completely human', I was confused because I was only a seventeen year-old girl," Pinako laughed quietly to herself, "We grew closer over the months that came and went, I helped her understand our world and in return she taught me of her own world—where the sun never sets and the moon stays dormant forever.

The military quickly took heed of Secret's secret, the sand under her skin which became blood once it left her body—they thought her body was performing alchemy on its own inside of her and wanted custody over her, she rejected of course but then they forced her using God knows what way—she left and I didn't see her for two years, but then I heard word of one of Central's buildings exploding and a green-haired girl jumping from building to building heading south-east.

I waited for months without end once again, and on one night—she was in my room, we then spent the entire night catching up—talking like nothing wrong had happened, but I couldn't help it, she was my best friend. I was really happy that she came back, but then she said that she had to leave—and she told me that this time, she wasn't coming back; I didn't want her to go, I really didn't, but then she called me selfish and told me that I wasn't the only person in her life—she had a sister and a lover waiting for her, and I understood and let her go; Secret left the next day and never came back."

The old mechanic sighed as she closed her eyes, her face thoughtful, "When—when I see Del's eyes, despite the difference of the color between hers and Secret's—I see nothing but similarity, their face, their body, their voice—it was as if I was seeing Secret all over again and it now really made me believe that maybe, just maybe—Secret's story wasn't all that wrong."

"So you think Del's story is also true?" Winry questioned, sympathy and curiosity written all over her face.

"Yes." Answered Pinako dully.

"Either it's true or just a bunch of bullcrap." Edward spat scornfully, distrust written all over his face, "I don't believe it, any of it—none of it is real!"

"Brother! She'll hear you!" Al whispered angrily, never had his brother reacted this badly to something as silly as this.

"I don't care!" The alchemist scoffed as he got up from his seat, "It's not real! This isn't even—ugh! This isn't right! How can you believe her? This _Secret_!"

"Edward Elric!" Pinako shouted with her face red with anger, "Take that back!"

"No! What's she's saying is crap and crap and crap all over again! It's not real!" Ed shouted as he banged his fists onto the table, his eyebrows were knit together and his eyes were going haywire with such ferocity and anger and—

'Why does brother seem so… confused?' Al thought to himself as he watched his brother throw a fit of confusion at Pinako, to which she responded by shouting back at him.

And that was how dinner ended.

* * *

Shriveled up and curled into a ball of tears, Del's body was shaking as she hiccuped tears and whispered words to calm herself.

The poor brunette now realized what a curse it was to be able to see—she could never look at Ed again before hurling the contents of her stomach—yes, she vomited, into the trashcan to be exact, she hated him so much right now.

The door creaked open and in came Alphonse, in all his gentle nature.

Gently closing the door behind him, he slowly approached Del—careful at not wanting to scare her like he had last time.

"What do you want?" Del's scraped voice came out like paper on bark as she buried her face in her knees.

"I guess you heard brother and grandma bickering," Al spoke, his voice not laced with apologies or up-coming sympathizing comments which made the brunette look up from her knees and tear-misted eyes, "You'll just have to get used to it—Ed's bickering I mean, we _are_ going to be traveling together."

"What joy." The brunette rolled her eyes as she tucked strands of her thick hair behind her ear.

"People tend to react that way," Al chuckled and gestured towards the bed, "May I sit?"

"Yeah, go ahead." Del replied quietly and shifted her body to the side so that there was more space for him.

Awkwardly taking a place next to her, Al sighed as the bed jumped and teetered to the right—where he was, making Del slide to his arm.

Clearing his throat, Alphonse rubbed the back of his metal neck, "So, how're you feeling?"

"Terrible." Del murmured and looked away, her grey eyes downcast with disappointment and sadness, "I'm homesick."

"Homesick?" Al asked with a tone of understanding, "I know how it feels."

"Yeah," Agreed the brunette as she released a deep sigh she didn't know she'd been holding on for so long, "I miss my room, my mum, my dad—everything, I wish I could turn blind and mute again, I just want out; I've never felt so untrusted before—oh, sorry; you probably don't want to hear me say all these things, sorry for dumping this all over y—"

"No!" The sudden loud tone of Al made Del jump in her skin and face him, staring at his red eyes, "I mean—it's okay to let it out, you've got all night to let it out so there's no point at keeping it bottled up, brother—I mean, a lot of people would rather cry it out instead of keeping quiet, what's the point of keeping it quiet anyways? You know—"

"Why are you doing this?" Al paused and stared at Del, who was staring back with measurements of starry-eyed confusion, "Why are you—you know, helping me? I hardly even know you."

"Ah, well—" The metalman laughed awkwardly, "—you just look like you needed a little reassurance."

"Reassurance for what?"

"For you to know that we'll wait, maybe not brother—but me, Winry and Grandma Pinako will wait, we don't like seeing anyone sad, we really don't, so we'll wait for you to get better before asking you anything else."

Letting out a small laugh, Del looked down then up through her lashes, "Thank you, Al."

"Anytime," He seemed to smile, his eyes certainly did, "Just don't let what brother say get to you, or anyone for that matter—it's just their opinions against what you call your fact."

The brunette beamed at him and replied gratefully, "Thanks Al."

He cocked his head to the side and nodded, "You're welcome."

They held eye contact, red eyes responding to dark beluga ones before Del wrapped her arms around his metal torso, not flinching against the coldness of the metal, "Thanks again, Al, you're a good friend."

Hesitantly returning the hug, Al's eyes softened as he wrapped his own metal arms around the smaller human, he nodded and stayed silent.

The brunette released him as he did too and kissed his metal cheek in an almost sisterly way, "Goodnight, Al."

And with that, she crawled into her sheets and dipped her head into the pillow, falling asleep instantly.

The man of metal was left alone, stunned and dazed by what had happened—kissed on the cheek by a girl he hardly knew, Al touched the spot where she had kissed and frowned, 'I can't feel anything.'

Sighing, he stood and stared at the girl, "Goodnight Del."

He walked out the room and closed the door softly behind him, "Brother, it's not good to eavesdrop on people."

"I still don't believe this." Ed huffed under his breath, "It's illogical."

"Brother," Al began sternly which surprised his brother, "What's wrong with you? You've never reacted this badly before."

Ed stayed quiet as Al continued, "Is there something wrong? You were just fine before Pinako told us her story—you exploded afterwards."

The blonde frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning onto the wall, "The girl."

"Girl?"

"Yeah, the one with green-hair—the one she told us about, you were too young to remember, but she came to our house once, I still remember it—back when mum was still alive."

Al stared at Ed with a perplexed expression, "Really?"

"Yeah, I heard her and mum talking, she was saying things about her daughter and something about her granddaughter, something about curses and stuff, then she said to me to watch over you and her granddaughter—I couldn't really make out anything else and besides," Ed gripped a handful of his bangs and pulled, "It was a long time ago."

"And this is relating to Del, how?"

"I'm just gonna go jump on a hunch here but if what _Secret_ told me was true, I thought, 'What if Del's the granddaughter?' but then she'd have to be younger—a lot younger than me, so that eliminates the question of whether or not Del is telling is telling the truth—It's not that I don't trust her, I do; but what she said was a lie."

"Wait, I don't understand, why are you so eager to finding this granddaughter?"

"Because Al, when you and I—you know," Ed frowned, "I blacked out afterwards right? And I had a dream, mum was there—and there was a woman behind her, with green hair and whispering 'Secret' all over again, she told me to keep her granddaughter safe and that she; her granddaughter, would help us, in what I'll never know."

He made a fist with his right hand and brought it to his forehead, "But now I wonder if it's something to do with getting our bodies back."

"But why was mum there?"

"I don't know, dreams are strange things."

Silence took over and they stood looking at the ground in silence until Al finally lifted his head and spoke, "She was crying."

Ed bristled and faced his brother, guilt clearly plastered on his face, "Really?"

Al refused to meet his brother's face as he nodded, "Yes, you should apologize brother."

Silent, the shorter male pressed his lips together as his eyes downcast once again, they seemed calculating and wild like stags prancing through the deep evergreen forests.

Sighing once again, the younger brother passed Ed, "I'm going out for a walk."

Ed knit his eyebrows together as his brother disappeared into the darkness of the hallway, the alchemist sighed and frowned before staring at the wooden door which led to Del's room through strands of his golden hair.

Staying quiet once more, he slowly opened the door which creaked as he did and walked in, keeping his eyes fixed onto the lump inside the sheets.

"Hey," He said quietly, stopping just in front of her bed, "Um, I'm not really all that good in apologizing, and I know you heard what I said and I hope—er, you don't take it all into heart. I know I probably hurt your feelings and for that I'm, well—" He rubbed his neck, "—I'm sorry, okay there I said it; I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings, it's not because I don't trust you—I do actually, wait maybe that's a bit too soon, but anyways, I just can't believe what you said, it's too illogical and stupid and foolish and—sorry," The blonde laughed awkwardly and wrung his hands together, "I'm probably making you feel even worse, but hey; if it makes you feel better, tell me about this world of yours tomorrow and who knows? Maybe I'll believe you then."

Satisfied with his words, Ed smiled to himself and left with the sound of the door squeaking to a close, unaware that Del had been crying again; but this time, with tears if gratitude.

"Idiot."

* * *

Morning came and the dawn sun was perched on the mountains as everyone ate breakfast, all chattering happily and laughing.

Pinako smiled in relief, 'So they made up, that's good.'

"Haha! Your bacon is mine!" Del grinned and stole a fork punched through multiple strips of bacon.

Winry growled and reached for her bacon possessively, "Hey! Give them back!"

"No way blondie!" The brunette laughed as she wagged her fork smugly.

Another fork suddenly dived and took all the bacon from Del's, "Oi! Ed! Put them back!"

"Nope!" And with one entire gulp, the Elric had swallowed them all.

"Ed!" Winry and Del shrieked.

The mechanic smiled smugly, "Fine then, if you like food so much—take this!" she grabbed a piece of toast and shoved it into the boy's mouth, "Taste toast, you idiot!"

"ACK!" Poor Ed was choking on his food while Del and Winry were laughing like pigs, holding their stomachs as they sputtered out chortles, snorts and inexplicably cute laughs.

Pinako shook her head and called, "Al! Come over here, and stop playing with the kittens!"

"Coming!" Came a dejected yet cheerful voice that was followed by thumping and clanks of metal and the creak of the front door.

Del bit her lip and stifled a laugh as she scooped up a few bits of egg, bent the spoon and flung them at Alphonse then cried, "Egg catapult!"

As it made impact, Winry grinned and squirted syrup all over Del, "Whoops, you've got a little something there on your face, and your arms, and your face and oh; your—!"

"WINRY!" Del shrieked and threw a piece of toast smothered with chocolate at Winry's face, "Whoops! My bad! Oh dear, you've also got a little something on your face, would you like me to clean it for you?" The brunette said in a sing-song voice as Ed burst into fits of laughter.

"Oh dear Edward, we mustn't be forgetting you!" With that, Winry and Del grabbed the scrambled eggs on their plate and hurled it towards Ed to which made contact on his face.

Al sighed as he wiped the egg off his helmet and walked over to Pinako, "Sorry for the mess."

"It's fine, they'll be the ones to clean up after all." The old mechanic said and grinned devilishly as the three teens froze and stared up at her in horror.

"I—um."

"I'm just gonna—"

"Bath! I need a bath!" Del screamed making all of them wince as she rushed up the stairs.

"Why is she—" Winry was interrupted by Del's obnoxious scream, "Last one up has to clean the room!"

Thunders of screams, cries, fists banging onto the bathroom door soon filled the house as Pinako and Alphonse watched the two blondes bang on the bathroom helplessly.

'They're hopeless.'

And at last it was finally time to leave, dawn had left and came in noon.

"Bye Winry, I'll miss you; I'll call and write often." Del said through her misty eyes as she embraced her friend.

"Me too." Winry smiled and hugged the brunette even tighter.

"We'll be going now, don't overwork yourself." Al said and beamed at Pinako.

Pinako grinned and dismissed it with a wave of her hand, "Overwork? Me?"

"Oh come on," Ed laughed, "We all know that you're getting too old for all this hard work, best to just re—"

"Shut up kid." And with one whack, Pinako had sent him to the ground.

"Guys, that's enough." Came Del's amused voice as she walked to them.

"Like it was my fault? I was only telling the truth!" Ed retorted haughtily.

Rolling her eyes, Del ignored him and turned to Pinako, bowing she said, "Thank you for everything."

Shooting her a thumbs up, the mechanic grinned and replied proudly, "You're welcome anytime, oh and please make sure this pipsqueak here doesn't get into too much trouble."

"Of course."

"COME HERE AND SAY THAT AGAIN, WHY DONCHA?!"

"Pfft Pipsqueak."

"ACK! Del! I thought we were over this!"

The brunette sniffed and flipped her hair over-dramatically, "Guess not—let's go wonder boy."

Ed growled as Al laughed and urged him to walk, "Come on brother—bye grandma! Bye Winry! Be safe!"

"You too, and you better not come back with my automail ruined!" Winry called as she waved.

"Yeah!" Ed didn't turn back, only waved his hand as he walked.

Al flicked his eyes towards Del and then to Edward, he whispered, "She knows?"

"Yeah, we had a talk this morning, didn't we Del?"

"Don't talk to me like a kid."

Al laughed, Ed had a throbbing vein mark and Del only rolled her eyes with her hand on her chest, "Oh yes—my dear Edward, we did! Please forgive my insubordination, for we all know that you and I were trapped in the land of Tralalalalala-LeeDay when you told me! Boohoo! Oh shall I tell your brother of our little rendezvous last night?"

"You were awake?!"

"Rendezvous? Brother, you didn't!"

"You two are impossible!"

* * *

The train ride to Central was peaceful, Ed had fallen asleep, Al was busy reading a book and Del was far too immersed at the scenery outside the window.

She saw the green trees, the wide pastures, little houses, small farms, big farms, cows, sheep, valleys of flowers, mountains and orchards—a whole lot of them.

The sky was already a bright blue now, the clouds were flying freely as the sun shined down upon them, it was as if the heavens above were smiling—or so she thought, Del wasn't a religious person, but she had to admit; the thought of the so-called heavens beaming down on her was pleasant.

A bird flew next to her window and she smiled waving at the bird as it tweeted and flew away.

Laughing quietly to herself, the brunette tucked a lock of her earthly hair behind her ear.

She marveled at the world, how colorful, exciting, strange and funny it was; she's never seen a train before, she's never been in one, so this was really something she was excited for. It went ba-bump ba-bump under her feet and the sounds of the chugging was soothing to her ears, the glass was warm to lean into and she relished at the feeling.

"Not going to sleep?"

"Nope."

"Brother's a really heavy sleeper sometimes." Al said, his eyes fixed onto the body of his brother next to him.

Del laughed but said nothing as she stared at the two, her coal eyes softened and she smiled.

"What did you say to him this morning?"

"Stuff."

"About?"

Del shrugged, "About my original world, how it was like and well, you know, I told him about my family and how my life was back there before—I doubt he was interested in that, but it was funny watching him trying to stay awake through the whole thing."

Al shook his head and laughed, "Mind telling me about this _stuff_ then?"

Nodding, she began.

Del told him of the strange metal birds which flew in the sky, the sounds of voices from a box, the kindness of her parents, her mother's condition, stories of robots, stories of ghosts, and how it felt to be blind and mute.

"Do blind people dream?"

"In some ways, yes, when I was a child my nights were mostly filled with auditory dreams; dreams of sound, but as I grew and learned braille and studied objects by shape, these sounds took shape and I found myself being able to see pictures, my favorite dream would be the time I became Red Riding Hood," She paused, "The wolf was being an awful lot nice to me, and he gave me cookies and accompanied me to my grandmother's house, he called himself Sabbath."

She could feel sympathy and pity oozing out of Al's eyes as he spoke, "Have you ever found yourself missing those pictures?"

Rubbing her wrist, Del pressed her lips into a thin line, "No, not really; because I tend to forget dreams, like everyone does… but even so, I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Ed had finally awoken and was completely attentive.

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with absolute worry and fear, "That I'd go mad if I go back, I'll lose my eyesight and voice again, I'll miss it far too much and I've grown much too attached to it already and that that I'll only ever be able to see pictures in my dreams and forget them afterwards."

"Del, it's going to be alright." Al said kindly.

"No it's not—you don't understand, do you?" The female let out a sigh, "If I go mad, I'll have to be put under medicine and locked inside the house; I won't even be allowed to go outside to the garden or be able to read story books anymore."

"I'll always be trapped in the darkness, there's no escape." She cupped her face in her hands and sighed tiredly, "I know that you'd think I'd be used to the darkness—yes I am actually, to the cold too; but once I've gotten a taste of light and warmth, I feel like I won't ever let go."

Ed and Al looked at each other and exchanged a conversation through their eyes, 'What do you think?' 'Maybe.' 'Can we trust her?'

Al stared at her and he finally realized that standing before them, was a very broken girl who's finally gotten what she'd deserve, light.

"Yes, we can."

Del looked up and quirked an eyebrow, "We can what?"

"It's decided!" Ed grinned and crossed his arms over his chest, "We're gonna drag you all over Amestris."

"That sounds violent."

"You're the only other person who knows about our condition and the cause of it other than the Rockbells and a few people in the military," Al said, "We're going to issue you as a State Alchemist so that you can come with us."

"But I can't do Alchemy!" Del protested loudly and covered her mouth as she saw heads turning her way, "I really can't."

"Fight?"

"No."

"This is going to be hard." The short blonde sighed as he gripped his bangs and pulled on them.

Suddenly, the sounds of explosions filled the train as half of it was blown off.

The sounds of people screaming and the sigh of blood was intoxicating to the eye, the three were stunned and frozen at the sudden attack; none of them moved as a figure jumped down.

"Fullmetal."

"Scar!"

Del whipped her head to the side and screamed, for in front of her eyes was a man with dark skin, hair as white as snow, and eyes burning like ashes of embers—'This, is Scar?'

Countless of times has she heard of him, his voice and intents; she wasn't afraid of him before, but now? She was absolutely petrified.

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter is over 5000+ words, and guess what? It was supposed to be longer!

I need to seriously cut back on my writing.

Anyways, thank you for reading this! I hope it was a good chapter, don't forget to leave a review on what you thought about it, reviews give me the power to write more chapters and update faster!

And again, thanks for reading!


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